‘Hey,’ said Rose, reaching out to hug her.
‘Hi, darling!’ said Clara, leaning in to air-kiss her.
‘How are …?’ but before Rose could finish, Clara was gone.
‘That was rude,’ said Annabelle.
‘I’m sure she just wants to get the reception over and done with so she can get ready for the runway,’ said Rose, turning away from Annabelle so she wouldn’t see how red her cheeks now felt.
She watched as Clara glided towards the line of official photographers waiting by the step and repeat. She greeted them much like she had greeted Rose: from afar, not touching her face to anyone else’s.
And then something astonishing happened. Clara flashed her left hand to the photographers, splaying it near her face and smiling as her head fell back with laughter.
‘Oh my God, she’s engaged?’ Annabelle said, watching the same scene as Rose in amazement.
Rose saw the glare of a giant diamond, glinting in the light.
‘Oh,’ said Rose, watching as Clara giggled.
Oliver was open-mouthed, walking over to Annabelle and Rose.
‘Rose, is she engaged?’ he asked urgently.
‘This is the first I’ve heard of it,’ she replied.
‘A heads up would have been good. Fuck sake. I need to draw up a press release for this now. It will be a huge diary story.’
‘That’s good, I guess, right?’ asked Annabelle.
‘Yeah. It’s great. Don’t try to take credit for it, Rose.’
‘Please, Oliver,’ she replied.
‘Please what?’
‘I’m just popping to the loo,’ Annabelle whispered.
Rose waited for her to disappear from earshot. This was her moment.
‘I’m fed up with this bullshit,’ she said.
‘Excuse me?’
‘You know what I mean.’
‘No, I really don’t. Please enlighten me.’
‘Why are you like this with me? Is it because I’m better at my job than you?’
‘Oh, give me a break.’
‘You already get preferential treatment at work. I’m younger than you. Less senior. Less respected. And the Milo stuff. You just – you have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Okay.’
‘It’s … something happened. He is not a good person. In fact, I think he’s actually a pretty awful person. The worst kind of person. And you really don’t need to do this to me. I already hate myself. I already feel isolated. I already feel …’ She paused, feeling her throat clogging up. She took a deep breath and looked up at Oliver, hoping for a glimmer of humanity.
‘You really shouldn’t be such a drama queen,’ he replied.
‘Can we please just get on?’
‘Rose, for fuck’s sake, drop it? We get on fine, okay? Whatever conflict you’ve decided we have does not exist.’
‘What?’
‘It’s in your head, Rose. It’s all in your head.’ He was holding one finger up, twirling it around next to his ear, smiling with Schadenfreude. The grin started to extend beyond his face and suddenly his cheeks disappeared, leaving only teeth and eyes. Then it was just the teeth. It’s all in your head. The words danced around her brain like the chorus of a song you’ve been singing all your life, except the volume had been turned up so high it was all you could hear, drowning out every passing thought. It’s all in your head. It’s all in your head.
The next thing Rose heard was Annabelle talking about Clara’s engagement ring.
‘Surely about £50,000? Right? I mean look at the size of the thing. My God. She has money, I know. But that’s like capital M money. That’s “my husband’s name is on the side of a bank” money. Wow.’
Oliver was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was just the flurry of passing bodies she and Annabelle smiled politely at. And there, getting smaller and smaller as she moved into the party, was Clara. Or at least another version of her, one that was a total stranger to Rose.
Minnie and Liz would be thrilled. News of the engagement meant at least one national news story for the following day. And Clara was the target market for StandFirst. It was a perfect piece of press.
After a few more actors had arrived, Annabelle started to get itchy.
‘Why hasn’t Milo turned up yet?’ she asked.
